Too Late to Say I Told You So
by BrightVaporeon
Summary: The journey to discover what a Pokemon Master truly is. Strong language, mature themes, no sex. This is a personal work, and is only BASED on Pokemon. New world, same Pokemon, updates infrequently. Original Characters.
1. Where Are We

"When you get back, I'm going to be the best goddamned Pokémon Master you've ever known." Had I known what I was getting myself into, I may have held my tongue. Then again, I've pretty much gotten to the point where it's completely pointless to try and tell myself that I can change the outcome of things by what I do or don't do.

The simple fact that you're reading this means that I've accomplished what I set out to do. I'd like to talk aside from the cryptic nature of this introduction, but it's hard to do without immediately launching into an explanation, which is what I plan to do shortly. I can't say I'm not happy, in the end, with how everything turned out, but I'm definitely happier now that it's over. Without being ridiculous any farther, I'll just pick up from a point where we both know we left off.

"Alright," your voice held a light chuckle, one I'd grown to love so well over the past six months or so, "I've got to go. I have a plane to catch." My tear-stained face turned up to yours and I leaned up to give you one last, emotion-filled kiss, ignoring the only other person at the airport at four in the morning, some man sitting on a nearby bench. "I love you."

"I love you too." I muttered, trying to put on a smile for you before turning to get back in the car. I didn't look back to you after that, but I should have. Not looking back to see you walk away was one of my first big regrets.

I slid into the passenger seat of the car with your dad, pulling the hood of my jacket up over my head, although he knew by this point that I had been crying. Already, my fingers missed being interlaced with yours, and it had been less than thirty seconds. As we pulled away, I took a deep breath, exhaling with a shaky sigh. For the next two and a half months, I would be without you. We sat through the ride in almost complete silence, your dad breaking it only once to comment on the construction that spanned the streets of the largest airport in the state during the busiest time of the year. I agreed with him, just to make things simple.

After what felt like the longest car ride in all of eternity, we pulled into the garage at the back of your house. Your dad led the way inside, and I said good night to your parents as I passed by their room, not stopping until I stepped over the threshold that separated your room from the rest of the house.

I reached up to touch the button on the remote that switched on the light. My eyes scanned over the room, now absent of your body, as well as all of your things. Mine were still strewn slightly about the room, exploding out of the larger-than-necessary suitcase I had brought along with me a week before. My eyes fell on your cat, who had curled up on your bed, and I shut the door most of the way to allow him to leave if he wanted. I carried the remote directly to the bed with me, retrieving the sheet that had somehow made its way to the floor and curling up among the thin fleece sheets that we had shared for so many nights previously. Your cat's ears presumably perked up as the fresh new wave of sobs hit my body, and the weight of his body flopped down next to me as I hid my face in the pillows to muffle the sounds from the thin walls that separated your room from your sisters'. I wasn't interested in your entire family coming in to ask me what was wrong or tell me they would miss you too.

I'm not sure how long I cried. All I know is that by the time I was done, I had essentially run out of tears. I finally slipped off to sleep, shivering slightly at the cold—you'd taken the thicker fleece blanket that had been on the bed, and I hadn't thought to ask for another. The last thing I thought of was you; how I so craved your warmth.

When I awoke, I immediately knew something was amiss. Even before blinking my eyes open and having to close them again, quickly, I knew three things. The first of these things was that it was warm, and I had gone to sleep cold. The second of these things was that it was bright, and unless someone had done some serious sneaking and work, there was no way even your light fixture was that bright. The third and final thing was that I was outside, and I was absolutely positive I had not gone to sleep outside.

My entire body ached like it did when I slept on the floor or the ground. This, I would come to realize, is because I _had_ slept on the ground. Finally squinting my eyes open, I was able to take in my surroundings.

"Shit." I had to cough a bit after attempting to speak—my voice cracked a little bit, like it always did in the morning right as I woke up. I cleared my throat, and murmured the curse again.

I had obviously 'spent the night' in a sleeping bag, in the middle of what looked like a decent-sized clearing of a forest. The color of the leaves, as well as the light chirping of what sounded like birds, revealed that wherever I was, it was spring. A quick glance back revealed I had laid my head down on what looked like a fairly spacious backpack. I moved to unzip it, and hesitated. After a moment's pause to blink a few times and make sure I definitely wanted to do this, I opened it.

Clothes. Clothes and shoes and similar items; a water canteen, a few snack bars, and a pair of sunglasses. I dug a little deeper and produced a plain leather-bound black journal, but flipping through it, I found it empty. I was just about to give up when my fingers slipped over another zipper. I unzipped it as well and produced a folded piece of thick, sturdy paper. Unfolding it revealed a map, though of what I wasn't sure. It had no labels or names—topography at its best, I was convinced. There were a few areas that were marked as what I assumed were cities or towns, but no words. My eyes finally landed on a sticker that was stuck to the map, right near the edge of a wooded area. I was going to assume, for the moment, that was where I currently was. I followed a line to the nearest city marking and frowned. Depending on the scale, that would only be a few hours' walk west, but I had no compass.

I flopped back onto the backpack lightly, sighing. In my head, I had already determined this was a dream, and although it was a particularly vivid one, I wasn't too concerned with the concept of time. I rolled over, pushing myself out of the sleeping bag, and pulled out what looked like one of the only two sets of clothes I had brought along with me, getting dressed leisurely.

At the very least, my dream-self had put together an interesting outfit. A baseball shirt with three quarter length sleeves with a hooded vest over that accompanied cargo pants that held perhaps one too many belts, straps, and zippers (or perhaps not enough), plus a thick belt to hold them up, and sturdy tennis shoes, plus a pair of matching fingerless gloves and a folded bandana. I was sure I looked ridiculous- this was no kind of outfit to go hiking in. It matched well, though, in various shades of blue, black, and grey, so I wasn't going to complain.

I was just finishing packing my sleeping bag when I heard a noise from the trees behind me. I registered what sounded like a low, long growl and jumped, freezing. When I heard it a second time, I zipped the backpack up quickly and whirled around. It was times like this that I wished I was armed in some form or fashion, but the backpack I had did not provide anything I needed in that regard. There was a loud crash and a fuzzy brown clawed paw broke its way through a dense patch of trees. I wasn't about to stick around and find out what it was attached to. My glance fell towards the sun—if the sun rose in the east, I was going to take the trail that led away from where it currently was in the sky. I turned and broke off into a run, caring little for stopping to smell the flowers.

I wasn't sure how long I ran. I remember being mildly surprised that I _could _run as long as I could; I knew that I was out of shape, but I chalked it up to dream magic and just kept going. When I finally stopped, breathing hard despite feeling completely comfortable with the distance I had just traveled on foot, I could tell the forest was less dense. If nothing else, I was hoping that meant I was almost out of it. I turned to look back behind me, to make sure I wasn't being followed.

"Hey." _Goddamn_, I wasn't paying attention. The voice from behind me made me jump, bite back a squeak of surprise, and whirl around. Thankfully, the owner of the voice looked more or less human. He was taller than me, though, built thin, and had a backpack slung over one shoulder. This man was definitely slightly more dressed for hiking, in what looked like a thicker set of clothing and hiking boots. From behind blonde hair, green eyes sparkled with a slight bit of excitement as he smiled at me, holding up his free hand to look at his watch. "What're you doing out here at this hour? You're missing the festival!"

Oh, god. There was a festival. Well, at least that meant there was other human life, I supposed. I'm sure the look I gave him was still a little more than incredulous.

"Hey, are you feeling okay?" he asked me, tilting his head slightly, his ear-length hair falling to the side some. "You look exhausted."

"It's… I was being chased by…something. It growled at me." I was aware that my explanation sounded ridiculous, but it was really the only one I had.

"Oh, it was probably just an Ursaring." He replied. "They're not harmful, really, just a little bit ill-tempered. It probably thought you had food, and…"

He could have kept talking for an eternity; I had already tuned him out. My head was suddenly swimming. I let him ramble on for a few more sentences before interrupting him.

"An _Ursaring_?" I asked, sounding like I had absolutely no reason to believe him. "You mean, like, the Pokémon?"

"Of course I do. What else would I mean?" he asked.

Oh, _joy._


	2. What The Hell Is Going On?

"Look, Marco, I already told you." I insisted, now walking alongside the man whose name had been revealed to me after a short introductory period, and after he had determined we were traveling together the rest of the way to some place called 'Lazuli Town,' which I was assuming was the city marked on my extremely unhelpful map. "I just woke up in the forest this morning. I don't even know where I am."

"Well, that's easy enough." Marco responded, glancing over to me. "You're in the region called Shikoku. According to top researchers and explorers, we're located very, very far away from any other country—we're actually our own island. According to legend, though, there are other regions out there, which could even possibly have more Pokémon than exist here. We're in a bit of a scientific breakthrough, actually; extensive research done in evolutionary methodology shows that…"

Marco, as it turned out, could talk for a hell of a long time. He started off on some scientific tangent about Pokémon evolving based on the location of the moons in relevance to the world which sounded incompletely true and I interrupted him.

"Marco," I began, and he stopped almost too obediently, "I'm just curious. How many Pokémon do you… well, you as in the collective you, the residents of…Shikoku," The name sounded odd passing through my lips, but I pushed through, "How many do you know of?"

"The exact number is hard to place." Marco replied. "Right now, I think we're at almost two hundred confirmed species, but stories and legends suggest we might know of about two hundred and fifteen."

I did a quick internal sort of reconnaissance in my head. That meant that…well. I had a few suspicions, and Marco seemed to know a decent amount. "So could you give me a few names of the Pokémon you do know of?"

"Oh, yeah!" Marco grinned. This seemed to be something he was excited about. "Well, in addition to the normal Pokémon we see around here—you know, Pidgey and Hoothoot and Rattata and Sentret and the like, we're also quite aware of what seem to be rarer breeds; Octillery, Drowsee, Cubone, and a few of my favorites, including…"

That confirmed more than one of my suspicions. "And Marco," I asked, "How populated and technologically advanced would you say Shikoku is?"

"Oh, definitely not too populated until you get to Carnelian City. That place is huge. They say you can't even see the stars at night with the way the city's lit up. Listen, are you sure you didn't just hit your head or get hit by a Pokémon's Amnesia or something? You seem to be fairly knowledgeable about Pokémon species and geographical information. Hey, listen," he said, "Why don't I take you by the laboratory where my dad works when we get back? He's the leading researcher in Pokémon Evolution, and maybe flipping through a few books or seeing a few things can jog your memory."

"That sounds like a good idea, actually." Despite the way Marco had a tendency to ramble, he wasn't completely devoid of good ideas. I was starting to actually warm up to him.

"Hey, and the festival lasts all weekend, so maybe we can still catch the ceremony tonight!" He sounded completely too excited about it, but I agreed, somewhat passively for his sake. "It's going to be awesome! They light all the lanterns, and…"

I was going to let him continue on with this explanation for now. It would give me time to think about a few things.

So why the hell was I in this universe? I was beginning to abandon the dream theory; if this were a dream, I don't think I would have been this lucid for this long. I probably also would have jumped through time at this point; my dreams had a knack for skipping parts like this where I was doing almost absolutely nothing, like walking through a winding forest road. I started to slowly go over the past twenty four hours in my head, backwards. I hadn't fallen into a coma or anything, not that I knew of, but…

"_I'm going to be the best goddamn Pokémon Master you've ever known."_

It was too much of a coincidence to not be true. My legs suddenly felt weak as images flooded my mind, returning me to the winter leaves left over from the warm fall, the street lights, the traffic lights, the post-Christmas euphoria that had been ripped away from me hardly a week later, that last, emotional kiss in the yellow lights of the lower levels of the airport. I stopped where I was, giving little thought to Marco, who took a few more steps before noticing I had come to a halt. "Hey," he said, his voice sounding concerned. He took the few steps back to me, reaching up to put his hands on my shoulders. I tilted my head down, my eyes starting to water. "Are you okay?"

"We're going to Lazuli Town. Pick up the pace." I nearly snapped, pulling away from him and walking past him, moving more quickly than we had been before. As the tears escaped my eyes, one by one, I kept my head down, making sure to keep a safe distance between Marco and myself. I wasn't about to bother him with my stupid bullshit emotions when he was clearly otherwise enjoying himself.

"O-okay." Marco responded. It was really a bitchy move to be upset and not tell him what was going on, but he seemed either respectful enough not to ask or confused enough not to ask. I was going to accept either explanation.

By the time we rounded the last curve of the path to Lazuli Town, I had somewhat composed myself. I held my head up as I felt Marco's hand on my shoulder, shaking me gently. "I've lived here all my life," he said, "For the last twenty years. It's pretty great, but the Lazuli Festival is probably the best thing that happens."

The town was actually fairly large, and bustling with festival-goers and Pokémon alike. I immediately picked out familiar faces; that was, if you could consider Pokémon to _have_ familiar faces. Jigglypuff, Marill, and Pichu balloons, among other baby Pokémon, decorated the brightly-colored storefronts and stalls, and banners announced events such as the Trainers' Tournament in which people could take place. All in all, it seemed fairly normal as far as I could tell, but definitely more excitement than these people normally dealt with in their day-to-day lives.

"The laboratory is this way, come on." Marco led me through the crowded streets to a big building rested on top of a hill. The building was definitely what I would have imagined a laboratory-like structure to be—instead of what seemed like the usual brick, this building was made of light stone, maybe a concrete-like substance. The doors slid open as we neared, making me think for a moment that man-made electricity was commonplace in this region, but the Ampharos by the door caused me to hold in a chuckle as I realized that Pokémon power was actually probably more effective and useful.

That was possibly the first laugh that I had released since waking up that morning. Truthfully, it felt nice. It alleviated some of my stress, at the very least.

The inside of the laboratory was very clean and well-kept. I followed Marco across the room to a winding staircase that led to a balcony overlooking the building, to a room whose walls were made entirely out of glass. It was an observatory, I suspected, my eyes falling on what appeared to be a telescope in the middle of the room. We walked around the room to where an older man was poring over a textbook, multiple more books scattered around him in piles on the floor, some open, some with bookmarks. "Hey, dad." Marco greeted. "Shiloh, this is my father, Professor Alder."

"Hello, there." Professor Alder greeted, taking a moment to look up from his book and give me a smile. His hair was greyed, but his facial features closely resembled Marco's—at least I wasn't being lied to. "It's very nice to meet you. Are you one of Marco's friends or are you here for the festival?"

"Well, actually, I—" I began, but I was cut off.

"Shiloh just woke up in the forest this morning with absolutely no recollection of how she got there. I found her being chased by an Ursaring and I thought maybe she had amnesia or something so I brought her here to see if something could jog her memory. On the way back, she started talking about things and I _swear_ she knows a lot more about Pokémon than I do and maybe even more than we know! Dad, what if she's from some other region, or—"

"Marco, let's not be hasty." Professor Alder said with a patient smile, interrupting his son's lengthy explanation. He closed the book he was holding and set it on top of a stack, then took a different book from another stack, looking me up and down once with a look that suggested he was thinking hard. "Shiloh, was it? And you can't remember anything, or…?"

"Um." I wasn't sure how to respond. Technically, I guess I had come from what would commonly be called an alternate universe, but I wasn't really sure how well that would be received. "I know I lived in… another region." I started to choose my words carefully; there was no way I was letting a bunch of scientists run tests on me. "Before today, that is. And I guess I was traveling, otherwise I wouldn't have had all of these things with me. But the details are a little fuzzy. I…I think I was on my way to becoming a Pokémon Master."

"I see." Professor Alder responded. "And do you have any Pokémon traveling with you, or can you remember having any with you in the past?"

"No, sir." I replied, shaking my head. "Nothing. I know I'm not of much help."

"Nonsense," The Professor shook his head. "I've got an idea. There is a wise man who lives about a half days' travel from here, up a mountain path. Perhaps after the festival, Marco can take you to him and he can assist you with your concerns properly."

"But dad, I swear, this girl is _really_ smart!" Marco insisted. "Where's your book on rare and legendary Pokémon? What if she knows about some of them?" He was rushing to the bookshelf before his father could stop him, returning quickly with a leather-bound tome whose pages looked much older than Professor Alder himself. "Here, Shiloh, look at these!"

I had the book shoved in my face promptly. Taking it with a weak smile, I began to flip through the pages. "Oh, um…" This was slightly awkward. The book held very weak depictions of Pokémon I was definitely familiar with, but they were labeled incorrectly. Articuno had the word Artica scribbled across it, Zapdos had Iona, Moltres had Magmus… continuing through the book, there were other Pokémon sketches of slightly more uncommon Pokémon like Arcanine and Bellossom… definitely Pokémon that were only obtainable through evolutionary stones, but these had handwritten notes next to them with their correct names.

"We've figured out some of these," Marco interjected my thoughts, pointing to a picture of a Raichu, "After dad and I discovered the use of evolutionary stones, a whole new world opened up to us."

"Right." I agreed. "How recently did you guys discover evolution by stones…?"

"About ten years ago." Marco responded. "Do you know about these?" he asked, flipping back to the legendary birds.

"Can't say I do." I told him after hesitating. I wasn't about to make myself out to know more than I should. "I'm sorry."

"That's okay." Marco smiled.

"Marco," Professor Alder said, having already gone back to his book, "Why don't you take Shiloh down to the ranch, and then to the festival? I'm sure she'll want to watch the ceremony tonight, and maybe catch a battle or two?"

"Alright, dad. Thanks." Before I could protest, Marco simply grabbed my wrist and began to lead me out of the room. I frowned; the way he was starting to act around me, I would have to stop him before he did anything drastic.

"Marco, listen-" I began, but he interjected again.

"Oh, man. I didn't even think to ask if you had any Pokémon with you. We're going to go down to the ranch and get you one, alright? It'll be your first, well, that you can remember, anyway. I can't wait to see which one you pick…"

I let him ramble on. He was way too excited to deal with what I had to say for now. I slipped my wrist out of his grip and followed him with my hands at my sides instead, now thinking about what he had said. I was going to get a Pokémon…? Well, if I was to 'become a Pokémon Master,' as I had now claimed I was out to do, I suppose I needed a Pokémon first. Still, this was very nearly a dream come true had it not been at such an inopportune time. I had to get home, no matter how amazing Shikoku would be. I couldn't spend the rest of my life in this Narnia; I _had_ better things at home that were very nearly waiting for me.

The ranch at the laboratory was spacious, moreso than I had thought. It was more like a Pokémon Playground, when I looked at it right; all sorts of species were having a good time splashing in the water or rolling around in the grass. "Well," Marco said, looking proud, "Take your pick."

Take my pick…? That was like bringing a kid to a candy store and telling them they could only have one. I looked around the ranch, hesitating.

"Hey, what's going on…?" Marco asked from behind me. I turned to look and followed his gaze. A group of scientists were gathered around a table, making a lot of commotion over something or other. I listened close and could sort of make out what they were saying,

"…variety of Pokémon we've never seen before…"

"…needs help right _now_!"

"…don't know what to do, there's not enough information on this…"

"Excuse me," Marco said as we hurried over, "What's going on?"

One of them turned around and I found myself almost face-to-face with a sight I didn't think I'd ever see. The tied-up pigtails, pink-haired, curvaceous figure of Nurse Joy, and she looked concerned. "Oh, it's just horrible," she said, "This little Pokémon was found just this morning in the lake, and was brought to the Pokémon Center, but nobody here knows what Pokémon it is! I brought it here because I didn't know…it's poisoned, but it's a Pokémon we haven't ever dealt with before, and we're…" her eyes began to water, "Scared it's not going to make it…"

Suddenly, an instinct I had never felt before hit me like a freight train. "Move." I commanded with more ferocity than I thought I could handle. I shoved my way through the gathering of people much older, taller, and more respected than me and looked down at the Pokémon.

A sinking feeling hit me in the throat and immediately crashed down into the pit of my stomach. Before me on the table was a Buizel, the small, orange, otterlike Pokémon that I was fairly certain was native to Sinnoh. Its two tails swished weakly against the table as it mustered up what looked like the latter bit of its strength to open its eyes and turn its head to me, offering a quiet, strained, "Buiii…"

"Where the _hell_ do you people keep your berries?" I snapped, looking at the people around me. The scientists sat in stunned silence for a moment and I released a snarl. "_Get me your fucking Pecha Berries and Lum Berries right now or this Buizel is going to die." _ The anger in my voice quickly motivated them to scatter, returning with a bowl full of pink, strawberry-like berries, as well as a few round, green ones. "_Fuck_, not this many." I snarled, grabbing most of them in one handful and setting them on the table aside me. I looked around for a spoon or fork or something to smash the berries with, but found nothing, so I pressed my fingers into the remaining fifteen or twenty small berries that were still in the bowl, ignoring the protests from the scientists around me that I was using up all of their ingredients.

Once I had mashed the berries into somewhat of a paste, I broke away from the table, moving quickly to a pond that a few Goldeen, Horsea, and a Totodile were playing in. I dipped my hands into the water and pulled them out, the little bit of water I was able to hold dripping quickly from between my fingers as I siphoned most of it into the bowl. I then stirred it up with my fingers again, my hands a mess at this point, and returned quickly to the table with what could have been considered a Pecha and Lum Berry smoothie, lifting the bowl lightly to the Buizel's mouth and gently parting its jaws. "Drink this," I murmured, "It's probably going to taste weird, but it should be sweet overall, and you'll feel better…"

The Buizel's eyes connected with mine and I could see the acceptance pass across its gaze as it swallowed what seemed to be a fairly large gulp of the liquid paste before forcing its mouth closed against my hand and falling limp on the table.

"Oh, no! Is it okay?" Someone behind me asked. I hardly heard them. I leaned down, lightly pressing my ear to the Pokémon's side, careful not to put any weight on it.

"It's breathing." I responded, setting the bowl aside and lightly turning the Buizel over to lie on its back. "He's breathing." I corrected myself as I glanced over and took another look. "Let him get some rest, and he should be better soon."

"Shiloh," Marco sounded amazed. It occurred to me that he had been quiet throughout the entire ordeal. That was new. "Y-you're amazing. You might have just saved that…that Pokémon's life."

"It's a species that none of us have ever seen before." One of the scientists supplemented. "What did you say it was again?"

"_He_," I corrected with another growl, feeling protective of the recuperating Pokémon behind me, "Is a Buizel, and they're from Sinnoh."

"Sinnoh?" it was an almost-simultaneous response from the group gathered around the table and I immediately knew I said something I shouldn't have. "Is that where you're from?" Marco asked.

Yep, I definitely shouldn't have said that.

13


	3. The Dust Has Only Just Begun To Fall,

"So you're from Sinnoh, huh. Must be really far away from here. I wonder how that Bui…Buiz…"

"Buizel." I supplemented for Marco. "He's a Buizel."

"Right, Buizel. I wonder how he got here from that distance. Do you think maybe an egg was carried here by a bird Pokémon or something?"

I ignored the way-too-easy 'Are you suggesting Pokémon eggs migrate' joke that would have snowballed down the path of a culture that neither Marco nor any of the scientists or Nurse Joy were familiar with. To satisfy them, I had just accepted that yes, I was from Sinnoh, but no, I couldn't remember almost any of the other Pokémon from that region. Marco was being persistent, though, so I had agreed to draw him some pictures later to appease him. I wasn't particularly happy with the way the scientists were standing around the Buizel and studying him, so I was keeping close, throwing them a dark look when they reached out to even act like they were going to touch him. It had been about half an hour now, and I could tell everyone involved was feeling a bit antsy. Marco in particular kept looking out the window towards the festival.

"Look," I finally started, staring right at him so he would pay attention, "I know you want to be at the festival. You've been following me around all damn day. I'll meet up with you later, alright?"

"Well…" Marco seemed to hesitate. "I can't just leave you here…"

"Yes you can. I'll meet you there." I insisted. Marco's face broke out into a grin.

"You really mean it? Okay, Shiloh, see you there!" And with that he was gone, which I was incredibly relieved about. It would give me some time to think. I looked through my backpack and pulled out the journal that had been at the bottom, then dug down a little more and found a pencil. I needed to gather my thoughts.

The sun was setting by the time I heard one of the scientists report in a stunned voice, "It's okay!"

My head snapped up and I looked directly over to the Buizel. The Pokémon had, indeed, seemed to make a full recovery and was stretching and yawning on the table. He looked around to the scientists and released a confused, "Bui?," shrinking down a little in his spot as they crowded around again to investigate. I stood up, walking over purposefully, tossing the journal aside.

"Alright, that's it, move over." I commanded, pushing my way through again and holding out my arms to act as a barrier between the water Pokémon and his intrigued crowd. My plans were somewhat halted, however, when the Buizel once again locked eyes with me. His eyes lit up and he leapt from his sitting position towards me; I had to react quickly, nearly dropping him as I attempted to catch him before he crashed into me too hard. He placed his paws around my neck as best as he could, hiding his face against my neck in a hug, tails swishing around happily. "Oof! Hey, there. Feeling better?" I asked him. He raised his head and gave an excited chirp, then hid his face again, looking incredibly ecstatic. "Good." I laughed lightly.

"This is wonderful!" One of the scientists exclaimed. "Now we can study Pokémon that aren't native to the Shikoku region! This is truly a great day in science!" My heart sank as his words hit me and I turned my head slightly to protest, but Nurse Joy surprisingly spoke up for me.

"Now don't you think that's a little unfair?" she asked. "She saved the Buizel; he's more rightfully hers than he is any of yours! That is," she added, looking down at the Pokémon, "If he doesn't already have a trainer and is alright with that. Pokémon have feelings, too, you here should know that better than anyone." Her words rang true; no argument was presented. "Now," she said, turning to me, "How's he doing?"

"Seems to be good." I replied. The Buizel lifted his head to look at Nurse Joy, giving her a smile which she returned.

"Wonderful." She agreed. "Now, little guy, do you have a Trainer already?" This seemed to confuse the Buizel slightly; he paused, and then shook his head. It occurred to me that Pokémon were much smarter than the average pet back home; although they seemed to be able to understand humans almost perfectly (which would make sense considering they had to respond to battle commands), they were still unable to communicate back, at least in English, anyway. "Why don't you go with Shiloh, then?" Nurse Joy asked. "I think I overheard that she doesn't already have a Pokémon partner?" the pink-haired woman glanced at me and I nodded. "And she very obviously can take very good care of you." Nurse Joy added.

The Buizel looked at me. "…Buizel Bui?" he asked, his eyes widening as if begging me. I wasn't exactly sure how to respond.

"Uhm, you want to go with me?" I asked. "I'm not really familiar with this place, either, but—" before I could finish, a particularly happy Buizel was nuzzling his head into my neck, two tails swirling around in a circle happily. "A-alright, then." I laughed, hugging him tightly.

"Amazing! He likes you so much already!" Nurse Joy smiled. "Are you going to name him? He is your first Pokémon, after all, and a Trainer and their first Pokémon share a special bond."

"Name…?" I asked, looking at my Buizel. He blinked back at me with somewhat of a blank but intent stare. "Oh, shit. Uhm…" I searched my mind, trying to produce a nickname that wasn't utter shit. "How about Lutrus?" That was pretty close to the scientific name for the genus of otters, anyway; first semester Biology Hell in college was actually paying off for once.

"Zelllll!" He replied happily. Lutrus it was, then. I turned to look at the rest of the room, frowning slightly.

"Lutrus and I are going to go find Marco. Thank you all so much for your help." I announced. I knew that none of them did shit all, but I wasn't going to be _that_ impolite of a guest. They _did_ allow me to stay for a few hours and didn't kick me out for being rude to them. With my short explanation, I gave a half wave and turned to leave, making sure to nod once in extra thanks to Nurse Joy, who had been the most helpful of the group thus far. I picked up my things on the way out, having to set Lutrus down to do so. All two feet or so of him promptly scrambled up my arm at the first available opportunity, standing with one foot on each of my shoulders and placing his paws on my head. "Are you comfortable?" I asked him. The happy chirp he responded with indicated he was, so I wasn't going to argue or jostle around too much. After pulling my backpack onto my shoulders, I left the laboratory and, finally, made my way down to the Lazuli festival to find Marco.

"Alright, where is he?" I murmured, glancing around, trying not to make any sudden movements with Lutrus resting on my head. I knew I was already getting odd looks for my Pokémon; that was going to be completely unavoidable from here on out, but I didn't really live here, so I wasn't too concerned. The thought crossed my mind that I could just yell my new friend's name, but there would automatically be those smartasses who yelled 'Polo' back and…

Oh, wait. No there wouldn't. Marco Polo never existed here. Still, there were too many people around, and I wasn't about to shout out a name that I wasn't exactly sure how common it was. Besides, it was getting darker, so it would be hard to see him even if I could hear his response. I took to wandering around, looking at all the stalls and shops, almost wishing I had money—it occurred to me that I hadn't eaten all day and I was starving.

The darker it got, the harder it was getting to find out where the hell the ceremony that Marco had been talking about was going to take place. I kept hearing people say 'ceremony' in passing, but nobody would stay still long enough for my sometimes-shy personality to actually reach out and grab their attention. It wasn't until I heard someone say, "Hey, what kind of Pokémon is that?" that I was able to get someone one-on-one. After telling them I was a traveler from a faraway place called Sinnoh, an excuse I was bound to be using a lot from then on, and explaining that Lutrus was a Buizel, I asked in turn where the ceremony was going to be held.

Shortly thereafter, Lutrus and I were sitting in a pavilion with a large handful of other festival-goers. The modest structure was arranged in circular tables, but I hadn't seen Marco around, and Lutrus had wanted to dive into the bowls of Pokémon snacks that were set out on the tables. Meanwhile, I had gone through almost all the fiber energy bars that had been packed in my backpack, as well as all the water in the canteen, but the delicious foods being cooked at the festival were making my mouth water. What I wouldn't give for a hot meal…

"Shiloh!" Well, there was a voice I recognized, at least. Marco sat himself down on the chair next to me and grinned, then looked over at my Buizel. "Hey, he's okay! And you got to keep him?"

"His name's Lutrus." I responded, nodding. "We bonded, I guess. So what's supposed to happen at this ceremony?"

"Well, they're going to tell the story of how Shikoku came to be. It's a tradition."

"So it's a history lesson?" I asked, wrinkling my nose and watching to make sure Lutrus didn't get in trouble. "That's wonderful." I wasn't in the best of moods; my day had been more or less a rollercoaster of emotions and I was just now coming down off the 'holy shit Pokémon' high.

"Well, not exactly. Just watch." Marco replied. I reached out to put a hand on Lutrus and calm him down slightly as one by one, the lanterns surrounding the pavilion were put out. I looked around and followed the gazes of the other festival-goers, to the front of the pavilion where a long, banquet-like table was set out. Onto the table climbed up a two Nidoran—a male and female one, I determined after squinting hard through the darkness and taking note of the differences in their large ears and long pointed horns atop their heads.

Seeing actual Pokémon was becoming commonplace for me, and I wasn't sure how to exactly feel about that.

Both Pokémon nodded once to each other. In-between them climbed up a Vulpix, releasing a quiet but audible trill. As if on cue, and it probably was, the Nidoran opposite each other opened their mouths and shot forward and upward twin shots of ice- if I had to take a guess, I would have put my bets on Ice Beam. Before the shots could connect, however, the Vulpix tilted its head upwards and from its mouth released a column of fire that collided with perfect timing to the two colder moves, melting them on the spot but illuminating the pavilion once more amongst quiet whispers of awe.

Music began to play from behind the Pokémon and a man in a somewhat ridiculous blue and white costume (complete with tights and a feathered hat) stepped forth, drawing his fingers across what I thought looked similar to a mandolin, though I'd never actually seen one in person before. This one appeared hand-carved, which made it all the more interesting, but he began to speak as I leaned forward to get a better look.

"Long ago, before the land of Shikoku was inhabited with people, Pokémon roamed the land freely." His voice was smooth yet commanding, and he strummed lightly at his instrument while he spoke. "Over five hundred different species of Pokémon existed peacefully in the fertile lands, and presiding over them was a single, solitary Pokémon known only by legend as 'Mew.' This Pokémon Mew was all-knowing and all-powerful, but strove only for peace and harmony. When humans began to explore the land, Mew hid itself from human eyes, but still promoted that the humans and Pokémon should live in this land together. Until the humans began to experiment."

Even I was taken by surprise as the light from the Pokémon's attacks behind him faded and, with a shrill, "Vulll!" the Vulpix became completely enveloped in a blazing flame that cast the entire room in a shadow with an orange glow. Definitely dramatic mood lighting.

"The humans found the Mew. They captured it and began to experiment on it." The man spoke in a dark tone. "Before the Mew was able to escape, the humans created another species of Pokémon which they believed to be even more powerful. They called this Pokémon Mewtwo."

The Vulpix erupted in a brighter inferno of light, and Lutrus leapt around behind me in surprise, grasping lightly at my shoulders and peeking around me to see.

"Mewtwo was not pleased with its creators. Though it was all-powerful, it still understood that the amount of human interference with Pokémon species was too much. It destroyed the technology used to create it, as well as many of the humans involved, and also went into hiding.

Years passed. After hearing of the devastating calamity, many humans stayed away from Shikoku. The human race all but died out then, and many of the Pokémon migrated away—when life returned, it was discovered that the Ancient Humans left behind information on Shikoku's history that allows us to understand what life was back when Mew existed."

The Vulpix's light once again faded, only to be replaced with the fire-and-ice combination that had been utilized at the beginning of the ceremony.

"And so, the current residents of Shikoku remember never to interfere with the amazing nature of Pokémon and respect the land they live on, only in observance of the natures of Pokémon themselves. The humans hope that one day, Mew will return and Shikoku will once again return to the land it was before."

Suddenly, the Vulpix turned away from the arc of ice above its head. The two beams collided and stuck there, and the fire Pokémon let out another cry as it shot its stream of flame above the heads of the crowd, lighting the lanterns and the pavilion once more.

The pavilion exploded with cheers. I clapped as well, but my head was swimming again. I leaned over to say something to Marco, but he held up a hand, grinning. "Hold on," he said over the crowd's noise, "We have to recite the Shikoku mantra. It's tradition."

Oh, god. There was a mantra?

"_Inhabitant terram istam, ut honeste_

_et petere quod non intelligunt_

_Licet omnia nescire_

_Lorem ipsum simul et homines Pokemon_

_Una est, manu."_

It was almost creepy, how everyone spoke in almost perfect simultaneity. I tried to make out all the words, but I was assuming they were speaking some form of Latin that I didn't understand.

Once it was over, the crowd began to disperse. "So, Shiloh, what did you think?" Marco asked me, looking excited.

"It was interesting." I replied. "Why did we never hear what happened to Mewtwo?"

"Nobody knows. Look, it's just a legend." Marco laughed. "For all we know, humans just stopped recording things for a while, or had to fight off some horrible disease, or something."

I looked away. Well, at least that story could explain why Shikoku was so underdeveloped compared to what I would have expected after knowing about Sinnoh and Unova. Hell, even Hoenn…maybe.

"So it's getting pretty late, but I bet we could catch the very last of the battle tournament." Marco told me. "You hungry?"

"Famished." I told him, getting up. Shikoku lore would just have to wait.

11


	4. Crop Circles in the Carpet,

I was incredibly thankful that Professor Alder had allowed me to spend the night at his house with his son. Marco had, supposedly good-naturedly, offered me his bed, but I respectfully declined and slept on the couch. I was going to have to talk to him about a few things soon. It would wait until later, though.

Lutrus insisted on interrupting my bath and joining me, doing more splashing around in the water and playing than actually getting clean. He sat still for barely long enough for me to scrub him down once before swimming in circles around me, making me laugh a bit more than I should have. Truly, there were some pretty good things about finding oneself in Shikoku.

I borrowed some of Marco's clothes while mine were being cleaned. It was only slightly awkward that I was wearing one of his shirts and a pair of his boxers, which he assured me were clean, but he seemed more embarrassed than I was, so I treated it like it was no big deal. It wasn't, technically, but he wasn't yet catching that.

Lutrus was asleep long before I got to feeling tired. I laid in bed for a while, staring at the ceiling, and finally got up after I thought everyone else was asleep, quietly letting myself outside and making sure the door didn't lock. I crossed my arms and looked up at the stars in the sky, my eyes falling on the two moons that Shikoku's world boasted. _Must be nice_. I thought to myself. Then again, it only reminded me I wasn't _at_ home on Earth… I was in a stranger in a strange land, to put it lightly, and I don't know how I had gotten there or how to get back.

The thought was disconcerting, to say the least. The longer I stared at the sky, the worse I felt. I realized I had tears in my eyes; I had just lowered my head to let the first of them slide down my cheek when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Marco's voice was soft and comforting. I turned towards him and buried my face into his chest, not even bothering to hold back the sobs. You taught me that one.

Truth be told, this was the first time since I'd gotten to Shikoku that I'd really thought about you. Sure, you're always in the back of my mind, but something about finally having a little bit of downtime just…just hit me, all at once, I supposed.

"Shiloh…" Marco began, "I know this…must all be really…um, alarming for you…"

I wished that he wasn't speaking. He was attempting to comfort me, and I was okay with that, but he just wasn't really succeeding and I didn't really need to deal with that sort of thing right then.

"I just want you to know that I'm…totally here for you, and…" he attempted to continue. I lifted my tear-stained face to his eyes and forced what I knew was the most false smile I had ever forced.

"It's not really about… never mind." I told him. "Marco, we need to talk."

"About what?" he looked concerned. "Whatever it is, I'm here to help."

"You have…" I sniffled, wiping at my eyes and composing myself. "You've been really nice ever since this morning. You're hospitable and caring and all of that. I'm scared, though, that you're mistaking this for something it's not."

"What…do you mean?" he asked, looking utterly confused.

"Marco, there's just a lot about me that you don't know. And to be honest, I don't believe this is the right time to tell you, either." I explained. "And what I really need right now is just a really, really strong friend, alright?" It was probably the biggest friendzone speech I'd ever given, and I felt horrible for saying it, but Marco's features softened and I could tell he wasn't upset. At least not visibly.

"I can do that." He responded, wrapping his arms further around me in a hug.

Marco gave wonderful hugs, I decided right then and there. We stood there, me sobbing into his chest and getting his shirt all wet, for probably the better part of an hour. Finally, I looked up at him and nodded once with a smile that very clearly claimed my exhaustion. I was out of tears. "Thank you." I said quietly.

"Don't mention it." He replied, and reached up to lightly touch my nose with his finger, a gentle, playful poke.

I wasn't prepared for the fresh wave of tears that I broke out into. You habitually did that exact same thing. I hid my face again as my brain recalled, against my will, the tone you got in your voice when you were being mischievous and you touched my nose, just like that, and claimed, "_I love you so much._" The sound of your voice was beginning to fade, and I wasn't sure how long I could handle myself not hearing you speak. It simultaneously made me want to cry myself to sleep and just get _out_ of this crazy, fucked up place all at once, sleep be damned. When I calmed down again, I allowed Marco to lead me back inside, to the couch where Lutrus was curled up asleep. I took great care to try not to wake up my Buizel as Marco guided me to lie down and covered me with a blanket, telling me with a smile that he would see me in the morning, but as he left the room, Lutrus's eyes slowly blinked open.

The second my Pokémon caught sight that I had been obviously crying, he climbed across the couch to lie directly on my stomach, his head laid against my chest, giving me a sympathetic look. "Buiii…?" he asked quietly.

"Thank you, Lutrus." I whispered, wrapping my arms around him. He reminded me of your cat, which prompted a few more tears, but I was exhausted, and half delirious at this point, and slipped off to sleep; for the second night in a row, I cried myself to sleep.

"Buibuibui!" The excited, chipper noises from Lutrus made me stretch and open my eyes, squinting in the light streaming through the windows. "Buiii!" Lutrus insisted. I blinked a few times for my vision to clear.

"Natnat!" Oh, _god_, that was a huge purple fuzzball. I guess when I had imagined Venonat, I had always thought they wouldn't be bigger than your average Pikachu- maybe a foot tall or so. This one was definitely more than two thirds of my five feet tall, though, maybe half of the height Marco stood. It made Lutrus look short- a good half of Lutrus's two feet was in his tails, but it just seemed…well, _ridiculous_ to have a Venonat in the house.

I was going to assume that it was Marco's Venonat. This thought was confirmed when Marco maneuvered around it and my Buizel, showing quite an impressive display of balancing two plates and two bowls in two hands, and setting the table. "Hey, you're up!" he grinned as he looked over to me. "I made breakfast… I don't, normally, but if we've got a long walk ahead of us, then we might need it."

"Who's the newcomer?" I asked as I sat up, nodding to the Venonat in question.

"This is Vinny." Marco replied. I bit back the snarky response I had to that and simply smiled. "He's been with me for about a year now… the reason he wasn't around yesterday was because he sometimes works with the laboratory, searching in the forest for berries, and he does his best at night." He reached over, rubbing a hand on the Venonat's fuzzy head, "He sleeps during the day after that, so I was letting him rest. We were going to go to the last day of the festival together, but… well." Marco gave me a smile as he looked up. "Then you showed up and kind of changed our plans."

I suddenly felt bad. "If you had plans and I'm messing them up, don't alter that on my sake."

"Oh, no. Listen, Shiloh." Marco said, waving me over to the table. I got up to join him and was pleasantly surprised at the pancakes Marco had cooked up. I absently wondered where meat would come from in this world, but decided quickly not to think about it. "The Lazuli festival is once a year. Friends are more important."

As I was packing the few things I now owned, an amount which increased somewhat drastically when Marco not only refilled my canteen but also gave me a few bottles of water, I reflected on that thought. I had to close my eyes tightly and force my mind away from what I began to remember; late nights gaming, runs to the convenience store for mixed sodas that shouldn't have tasted as good as they did, the verbal teasing of the strange relationship we held from your frien—

That was the word that set off my emotions. You had a hell of a great group of friends. I finished packing and gave a nod to Marco, who also looked ready for quite a long journey. "How far is this place we're going?" I asked him, giving him a once over.

"Half a day's walk. We'll be there by mid-afternoon since we, uh, kind of slept late." Marco replied. I frowned. _Marco_ was in shape. Maybe not perfectly, but he had visible muscle definition in his arms and his chest seemed sturdy enough. He got his exercise. I usually did not. I shifted slightly, uncomfortably, thinking about the excess weight on my body. This trip would not be nice, that was for sure. "But I was also thinking," Marco added, "That you would probably not really return to Lazuli Town."

I was slightly taken aback. That was true; I hadn't really had plans to return despite what I figured out from this supposed wise man. I couldn't stay in one place knowing that there might be a way out of here that was within my reach. "Well…no." I responded, giving him an incredulous look.

"That's why I asked my father if I could go on your journey with you. To, you know, protect you." Marco offered, smiling sheepishly. "You also said you needed a good friend, and, well… friends stick together."

"I don't suppose I have a choice." I responded to Marco's hesitant smile with one of my own, which seemed to comfort him a little.

"Not really." He agreed, walking over to the door and leaving me no choice but to follow, Lutrus bounding along lightly by my side. "Besides, I know this world…at least in theory. I've never left Lazuli Town. But I know sort of how it's laid out, and…"

There he went again with his rambling.

In the beginning, the journey wasn't too difficult. The path was clearly marked and had obviously been traveled often. It was only after the first two hours or so (not that I was great at telling time by the position of the sun, and I didn't have a watch like Marco) that we had to veer off towards a mountain. Now, I'm not particularly the worst rock climber by any means, but it still wasn't easy for my thighs and calves to work at an incline for that long. We had to stop fairly often for me to rest, but it wasn't until lunchtime that anything particularly interesting happened.

We were nearly done with the sandwiches Marco had packed when there was a clear, loud rustle from the bushes behind me. I jumped, whirling around and moving over towards Marco. "Is it another Ursaring?" I asked immediately.

"Maybe. Hold on… oh, no." Marco's eyebrows raised as a Pokémon leapt from the bushes, landing on the ground in a crouch. It was a humanoid shaped, dark-colored Pokémon with a large pink feather coming from one side of its head and long, angry-looking claws; I recognized it instantly, but Marco looked hesitant. "What is that?" He asked, holding up his wrist and pointing a closed fist at the Pokémon. He brought up his other hand to his watch and pressed a button, and it began to speak in a pleasant female voice.

"_Sneasel, the Sharp Claw Pokémon. It mostly travels at night, using the cover of darkness to hunt for prey._"

"A Sneasel!" Marco grinned. "Awesome. Hey, Shiloh, Lutrus looks about ready to take it on, huh?"

"Huh?" I mirrored. I looked over to see Lutrus in a crouch facing the Sneasel, teeth bared, in an action I could only describe as snarling. "He does." I agreed. "What do I do?"

"Well, take charge!" Marco responded, backing away and leaving me feeling slightly defenseless. "Tell him what to do! It's your first battle!"

I felt slightly ridiculous. Putting on the bravest face I knew, I tried to remember what sort of attacks a Buizel might know. "Um, Lutrus," I called. "…Use Quick Attack?"

Lutrus sprang into action, rushing at his target. The Sneasel looked over, and leapt out of the way gracefully, landing lightly in the lower branches of a nearby tree. I frowned. Of _course_ it was going to be fast. It then shot forward in return, slamming into the side of Lutrus with an audible _thud_.

"No!" I gasped immediately. Lutrus was thrown to the ground, but got up quickly. The Sneasel rushed again, and knocked him over a second time, to which he pushed himself up once more. On the third rush, Lutrus moved, and the surprised Sneasel kept going, sliding onto the ground. I seized my chance.

"_Lutrus, Water Gun!"_ Lutrus responded almost before I was done speaking, a strong jet of water shooting from his mouth and hitting the Sneasel hard. It gave a cry of anguish and shot forward the second Lutrus's attack was over, ramming into him and knocking him down, then leaping away.

A lightbulb went off in my head. "Lutrus!" I called, "It's fast, but it's weak! Just keep dodging and using Water Gun!"

"Bui!" The battle went on like this for a few more rounds, with Lutrus doing a fairly good job of anticipating where Sneasel was going to strike and moving away in time to follow behind it with a jet of water. I watched in awe as my Pokémon fought the wild Pokémon, and Lutrus finally snarled and leapt into the air.

"Wait, Lutrus, what are you—" I didn't get a chance to finish. As the Sneasel passed under the place where he'd been, Lutrus flipped in the air and struck the ground, a powerful shockwave bursting from that point in the ground and knocking the weakened Sneasel to the ground. I stood in stunned shock.

"Well, don't just stand there! Catch it!" Marco insisted.

"Oh!" I gasped. That was right. I had been given a handful of Pokéballs before we had left. I fumbled in my pocket for one and pulled it out, touching the button on the front and watching it expand in my hand. "Here goes nothing." I murmured, taking a half step back and hurling my arm forward with all my strength, as if I were throwing a baseball.

The Pokéball flew its course, lightly touching the Sneasel's body and then capturing it in a red, glowing light. The Pokéball hit the ground and shook once, twice, three times, and then stopped. There was a suspenseful pause in the air in which I was convinced that nobody breathed, which I then broke with a happy cry of, "I did it!" I whirled around to find Marco next to me with his arms out and threw myself into him. He spun me around once and set me down, the both of us laughing, and I turned to find Lutrus leaping at me as well. I caught him in my arms and hugged him tightly, grinning. "You did great!" I told him.

"Zelll!" Lutrus responded, just holding his arms around my neck.

"You have a new Pokémon." Marco pointed out.

"Oh! That's right!" In my excitement over getting a new Pokémon, I had almost forgotten that I had _gotten_ a new Pokémon. I carried Lutrus over to the Pokéball, and let him down to pick up the spherical container that held the Sneasel. Turning it over in my hand, I smiled. My moment of reverie was interrupted by the ever-observant Marco.

"Hey, I guess if you're stuck here a while, you're not doing too badly for yourself, huh?"

My mood instantly turned sour. I knew I was being a bitch, but the prospect of…well. It wasn't pleasant. I had too much going on for me at home for this. "Let's go." I all but snapped, striding over to get my backpack and continue on up the path, ignoring my now-aching legs. Fitness be damned, I was going to figure out what the hell was going on.


End file.
